Monster are real
by Servala
Summary: her mum had always told the little Asari girl that monsters are not real, but the invasion of the reaper changed everything./ Matriarch Aethyta leads a small huntress squad and try to safe as many civilians as possible, but a soldier got to their breaking point as she found a dead kid


**Monsters are real**  
**Author: Servala, beta read by onimushapro**  
**Game: Mass Effect**  
**characters: Matriarch Aethyta**  
**Disclaimer: Mass Effect and its assets belong to Electronic Arts and BioWare.**  
**No copyright infringement intended.**

Monsters do not exist. If she was afraid, her mom would look underneath her bed. She would look in the closet and then draw the covers over her with a smile and give her a good night kiss. If there still were monsters hiding in her room, then her mom promised to come back and throw them out. Her mom had always promised her that she would always do that.

* * *

"Run, hide!" She did what her mom had said. She hid in her room underneath the bed, and pressed herself against the wall. The air had a foul taste on her tongue, it had charged. She saw dust dancing in the weak beams of light, under the edges of the bed. They were like a million stars.

On the floor, at the other end of the room, laid a small plush Hanar, which her mom had given her a week ago. It was given to her on her fifth birthday, when her mom had taken her to the zoo. The small Asari remembers how they had petted a small T'Drall together, and how her mom had promised her that she would soon buy her one. They had even started to pick names for it together.

_"Mummy…"_ She whispered pleadingly and pulled her knees close to herself. She heard a loud crash in the other room, which was followed by the cry of her mother. The little asari hadn't even dared to breath. She wanted to hide in her mother's arms and breathe in her scent, so she would feel safe and secure. She didn't want to lie under the bed anymore. Her legs were aching and the innermost leg of the bed was stabbing her in the back. _"Mummy…"_ She whispered loudly, in the hope that she would save her from this nightmare.

And then, she had to cover her ears as a shriek, worse than anything she had ever heard, came from the entrance of the room. She also heard a gurgling sound which were followed a loud crack, when something was flung into the room.

Her mom landed on the floor in front of her. Her body was twisted, and her beautiful green eyes stared lifelessly at her. The body was writhed, twisted, cracked and groaned. Her mom was gurgling. The little girl closed her eyes as her heart started to beat faster and she was trembling at the terrible noise. As she peered cautiously through the eyelids, she could see that her mother's eyes with their beautiful green color were all gone. They were brown, almost gray, now. Her eyes were huge and stared at her.

_"Mummy?"_ her plead was voiceless, the sound never escaped her lips. The monster tore the last remnants of the dress and then stood up and screamed.

The sharp tone hurt her ears. She couldn't breathe, so she curled up and closed her eyes shut. She then felt something tugging at her leg. A long hand reached after her and pulled her out from underneath the bed. She kicked and screamed for her mom, but she was no longer there, she was gone.

* * *

"Lieutenant, we have to go on..." Aethyta wiped the dust away from her eyes and looked at the soldier, who was kneeling on the floor. She was holding the lifeless body of a young asari in her arms.

"She's still warm…" the lieutenant muttered, when she broke the silence.

Aethyta went closer to her and knelt down beside her, her old bones were creaking. The lieutenant was not an inexperienced Asari. She was one of the elite fighters, one of the huntresses, one of the best. She had received training that harden her, she had superior biotic and mental training, yet she was weeping on the floor as she held on to the little dead asari. The matriarch put a hand on huntress's shoulder.

"Come along, child. We can't do anything for her, but there are others that we can help."  
The soldier put the little child gently back into her bed and looked around. Tears ran down her cheeks, tears which she couldn't hold back. Aethyta thought that the lieutenant herself was still yet a child, who had yet reach over three hundred years. But every night when she saw the eyes of her people, she saw their horrors. They had aged, and she could read it in their eyes. She found a small toy on the floor and picked it up, and handed it over to the huntress.  
The lieutenant took the plushy and laid it in the small arms of the child, and covered her with the blanket. "She had her entire life in front of her…" She replied as she lowered and shook her head.  
Aethyta put an arm around her shoulder and rubbed the upper arm comfortingly, to drive out some of the cold which she knew went through the young soldier. They need to hurry, yet she would give her the time she needed. "Let us pray."

The soldier looked at her with wide open eyes. "Do you still believe in the Goddess, after all this?"

Aethyta gave her a serious look. "In over a thousand years, I have seen a lot of things which has made me doubt, and I have never really seen the point in the blessings and prayers of our religion, but after all this?" The Matriarch shrugged. "Perhaps, there really is no Goddess, but the prayers still give us some consolation." Aethyta swallowed and lowered her head and began the prayer, hoping that the words would give the Asari next to her some peace of mind. She was a believer. She had a locket which she always carried around with her, and she rubbed it in holy water that she had gotten from the temple each morning. Aethyta knew that it would be the only thing that would help the young soldier to get through all of this, even after they had lost everything. She finished the prayer and went to the door. "Come on! We need to find the monster that's responsible for this."

The lieutenant nodded and shouldered her gun, before she leaned over the bed and kissed the battered body on the forehead one last time. "Find peace, little wing."

She didn't look back when she followed her matriarch outside. Different emotions were seething in her: anger, sadness, despair, weakness and rage. She wanted the Reapers to pay for this, and for all which they have done to them.

Not far away, they heard the long-drawn cry of a Banshee, the twisted reaper-forms of the abused asari. A second shriek went by and the soldier frowned, as if she thought that it sounded differently somehow, like it accused her that she hadn't helped the young one.

Like so many others.


End file.
